She earned her Rally Novice title on Saturday and qualified in her first run in Rally Advanced. Besides that she competed in TEAM obedience which means she worked in the ring with 3 other dog/handler teams in Novice obedience. I have pictures on the way, which I will post.

The best part of the weekend was watching all of these truly unique dogs working in obedience, rally, and conformation. Watching the group Sits and Downs was soooo cool. Every dog looked special. It was obvious it was not an AKC trial and I really appreciate the diversity of our group.

Everyone was so nice and helpful this weekend as well. Besides members from the Washington Mixed Breed dog Club, members from the Oregon club joined us too.

USDAA titles! Emma earned her PI Gamblers and PI Jumpers in April this year. So it took us awhile. Either way at the RAT trial she was fantastic. Not only did she finish her titles but she earned first place in Gamblers and Jumpers. Some people want really fast dogs, but there are times when consistency and team work will give you a better score. That was the case this time around. Consistency and Teamwork...are we talking about Emma and me? We HAVE come a long way.

Search Engine Optimization is an important aspect of a solid web site. Ilene Schwartz knew her web site was not working as hard as it could. The site has a nice look and feel, but the search engines were having trouble with it. The site navigation was rebuilt to make it search engine friendly among other changes which makes her site become more accessible than ever before.

On 8/3 local Drupal folks met at the Red Line in Capitol Hill. It was well attended about 10-12 people. It was great to meet with others in a imilar line of work. Some folks are as new as I am to Drupal. There was plenty of philosophical discussion which I appreciate.

I learned that ImageAssist is a great way to pull images into content. I'll be adding that module today and taking it for a whirl. In addition I'm going to try using CCK to create a new content type for my portfolio page.

I need to figure out how I'm going to conver the Footwear site and database into Drupal. That should be a fun challenge.

There were several people who mentioned browsercam. I recently paid for 1 month service there and it's interesting to know that other people are using it too.
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Here some extra notes from paper and pen (oh! who said that out loud... I used paper and pen instead of my computer?)

Plan on a little research before adding any contributed module

Consider using Contemplate module and name files like content_"type".tpl.php

To really learn themes try building atemplate from blank instead of copying and hacking.

Agility

Weave Poles
Dog agility is a fun sport for you and your dog. The goal in agility
competition (called a trial) is to direct your dog through a course of
obstacles as quickly as possible. Points add up for errors during the
course (like missing an obstacle or knocking a pole off a jump) and, in
general, the fastest time wins.

How to Get Started in Agility

Agility is a great sport for any dog. Whether you plan to compete or not,
dog agility can teach dogs to focus their attention and become more confident.
As the trainer, you learn how to communicate with your dog and learn to teach
complex behaviors. There is a lot of information
about dog agility. Bookstores have some books on agility, plus there are some
great web sites devoted to agility. Here are my suggestions:

Finding a local competition and watch the action!
Clean Run provides a listing of
upcoming agility events all over North America.

Sometimes there are flyers at the trial for places to train and future
events. Pick them all up and investigate later.

If you think it looks like great fun (and
it really is!), then try to find a local non-profit club that is offering classes.
Dog agility clubs are run by dedicated volunteers, and instructors usually
get paid for teaching. Ask your local pet store
to see if they have any recommendations. Also if you attend more trials,
you can ask competitors where they train (just don't interrupt them right
before they're getting ready to run).

Look to see when your local non-profit club
has a beginners class starting and contact the club for
more information. As with any dog training class, you should watch the
class before signing up. Watch the instructors and
look for lots of positive reinforcement used during class. Instructors should
explain the method of training they're using
and the ratio of students to instructor should be no more than 5 to 1.

If it all looks good, then sign up and get going!

If you live in the Northwest, I highly recommend
Rainier Agility Team. They offer classes in
Redmond, WA and Kent, WA. There are clubs all over the world that offer
classes. Go to The Dog Agility
Page to find a club near you (plus a ton of other agility-related info).
Classes should focus on training you for competition. Even if you don't plan
to compete, it is the safest training plan for your dog and you. Besides, if
you're like most people, once you get started you'll be hooked!

Help I'm Hooked!

If you've been bitten by the agility bug, then you must prepare for the next
step: competition. Plan on training for a year before you enter your first
trial. Your dog should be able to perform ALL of the equipment before
you enter your first trial. I know, I know. You're in a big hurry to start
competing, but trust me. You are doing yourself a huge favor when you wait
to make sure your dog is confident on all of the equipment. Now that you
have been training for awhile, it's time to test the waters:

Find a local fun match. A fun match is a mock agility
trial. It's great for practicing and for beginners to learn the ropes.

Sign up for at least two runs. A run at a fun match usually lasts about
two minutes. You can choose how you spend your two minutes.

Warm up your dog and plan on doing something less
difficult than you would do in class. For instance, if in class you regularly work
on sequences of 6 or more obstacles, start your first run by performing 2-3
obstacles and quickly reward your dog Repeat sequences of 2-3 obstacles and/or
start to add more obstacles to your sequence during the two minutes .

If you were successful in the first run, try to make the next run a bit more
difficult.

Basically, you need to repeat this process, training in as many different
places as possible until, you and your dog can walk up to the start line
and successfully complete a 14-15 obstacle novice course.

Now, you're ready for competition.

Trials, Agility Organizations, and You

Trials in your area are usually sponsored by a local non-profit agility club
and sanctioned for one of the national agility organizations like:

USDAA and NADAC allow all dogs (mutts too) to compete at
their events. They have similar competition rules, but there are some
differences. Talk to your instructor or a more experienced agility
competitor to find out the differences. If you understand
the basic rules, you'll be fine. You will need to join the national
organization in order to
compete at a local trial. Probably the hardest part is getting a premium for
a future trial. The premium lists all of the classes you can compete in at the
trial and usually include a form for joining the national organization.
Your instructors can help you too. Tell them you are ready
to try a trial and would like to know how to get a premium etc.

Once you have the premium, fill out the appropriate forms and prepare to
mail them to the club that is organizing the trial. NADAC trials have an
opening date. You can not send in your forms before the opening date. USDAA
trials only have a closing date, so as soon as you fill out the forms, you can send
them in. Agility trials are limited in the number of dogs who can compete in one day.
Trials can fill up quickly and you may find out you didn't make the cut. When
you fill out the form for choosing which classes to compete in, you want to keep
some things in mind:

Sign up for the Starters/Novice (USDAA offers Performance I as well) classes only.

If the trial specifies
Novice A and Novice B choose Novice A.

In USDAA, there are two programs: Performance vs. Championship.
I recommend starting in Performance (because of the lower jump height) till
you have more
experience. Once you are feeling more confident, you can feel free to move
up to the Championship program.

Do sign up for at least 2-3 classes for each day of the trial (or scale it
back and compete for one day only--lots of folks do that). You can always sign
up for all of the classes and then choose not to run in them if your dog is too
tired or stressed during competition.